People.com: “The Charges Are ‘Minor Stuff'”

Britney Spears's bad month just got worse: She has been charged with hit-and-run causing property damage and driving without a valid license, the Los Angeles City Attorney said Friday.

If convicted on both misdemanor charges, she faces up to a year in jail, City Attorney's spokesman Frank Mateljan tells PEOPLE.

The charges stem from a fender-bender in a store parking lot on Aug. 6. Spears, 25, made a wide, right turn into a parking space and scraped another car's bumper. (The incident was captured on video by celeb photo agency X17.)

"According to the DMV, Ms. Spears was never issued a California license – ever," Mateljan says.

The other car's owner filed a police report at a North Hollywood station.

Her arraignment is set for Oct. 10 in a Van Nuys, Calif., court.

Pasadena attorney Richard Hutton, best known for representing Paris Hilton in her probation-violation case earlier this year, says California residents must get a California driver's license within their first 10 days as a resident.

Spears has been pulled over several times in recent years with being cited for the license violation. Hutton (who is not involved in the Spears case) says it's possible officers were persuaded she maintains a residence in Louisiana and legitimately considers herself more a Louisiana resident than a California resident.

Overall, Hutton says, the charges are "minor stuff" and Spears could escape with a fine and probation.

The charges are just the latest headache for Spears, who earlier this week was ordered by a judge to undergo random drug tests. The judge in her custody fight with Kevin Federline found that she is a "habitual, frequent and continuous" user of alcohol and controlled substances, and now must submit to random twice-weekly testing.